YIPPEEE!!!

Pardon me while I indulge in a little happy Phillies dance.

Let's Help!

For the past 12 years my family and I have traveled to Vermont each summer to relax and soak in the gorgeous scenery and the wonderful spirit that abounds in that lovely green state. Here's what Dot's Restaurant in Wilmington looked like when we were there 3 weeks ago:

And here's what Dot's looked like last week (to put the flooding in perspective, normally the river level below that bridge is a good 20 feet below the street):

There are scenes like this all over Vermont - houses, bridges, roads all washed away.  Many residents lost everything, and winter's right around the corner there. Here's a little way that we knitters can help: Warm Hats, Warm Hearts, an organization run by India Tresselt, is collecting handknit hats, scarves, mittens and sweaters to distribute to northern Vermont and upstate New York flood survivors.

You can donate any knitted item (please include care and washing instructions and please use machine washable yarns for child and baby items.) If you would like to make and donate a child's hat, I will email you a PDF of the Momogus Knits Easy Child's Cap pattern for free. Just leave your email address in a comment below. There is a Warm Hats, Warm Hearts group on Ravelry with lots of information.

Items can be sent to:

Warm Hats, Warm Hearts

c/o India Tresselt

251 Huntley Road

Westford, VT 05494

If you have questions for India, you can email her at warmhearts2ATgmailDOTcom. If you would like to donate knitted items to southern Vermont flood survivors, you can email Kelly Connaughton at kfield16ATyahooDOTcom for an address and more information.

Let's help!!

Spinny Stuff

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I got a spinning wheel (a Kromski Sonata) (spinners like to know those things) in February, and I've very much enjoyed adding to the fiber madness of my life.

Please indulge me as I post some of my recent spinning efforts. When I started, like everyone else starting out, I spun big lumpy yarn. Then I gradually got better at it and spun the teeniest tiniest thinnest yarn I could. That's great, but I was left with really thin, super-over-plied yarn that had the gentle consistency of electrical wire.

Now I know that I can spin yarn a little thicker and looser and ply a little less frantically, and I'll end up with yarn that I actually want to knit with.

Here is some nice yarn spun from fiber from Spunky Eclectic. Merino wool, "Night Owl" colorway:


I knit the Morningside Neckwarmer by Jared Flood from it for my husband. This is the first thing I've ever knit out of handspun yarn. I might cry!!


Here is some nice yarn spun from fiber from Corgi Hill Farm (as the "owner" of several goofball corgis over the years, I love to buy fiber from this farm). 70% Bluefaced Leicester, 30% silk:

This was a dream to spin - my first time spinning anything with silk. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, other than to just gaze at it lovingly.

Finally, here is some nice yarn spun from fiber from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm. I have to give them a shout-out because what they're doing is so awesome. Check out the website and then buy some yarn or fiber from them.

This fiber was a Lincoln cross (sounds like I know what I'm talking about, eh? I don't.) It was fuzzy and fun to spin and the bluey-green color was like sea glass. I also don't know what I'm going to make with it.

Hey, you spinners out there - do you have favorite projects you like to knit with your handspun? I'm still intrigued by the fact that I can make yarn, let alone knit with it. The yarn itself is like the finished object!